Turkish Cargo Ship Sinks After Collision Off Istanbul; 10 Crew Members Missing

Istanbul: Ten Turkish sailors are missing after a cargo vessel sank in the Marmara Sea following a collision with a tanker early Wednesday, Turkish authorities said.

The Tugberk Imamoglu, a 90-metre cargo ship carrying rolled steel, collided with the Turkish-flagged tanker Alsu around 3 am., approximately 32 kilometres south of Silivri, a western district of Istanbul.

The cargo vessel sank within about 11 minutes of the collision, Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said. All 10 people aboard, including the captain, were Turkish nationals.

Search and rescue teams have so far recovered a lifeboat and other debris believed to belong to the sunken vessel, but there has been no confirmed sighting of any crew member.

“Two helicopters and 12 search and rescue vessels are currently involved in the operation,” authorities said as efforts continued to locate the missing sailors.

An emergency signal from the Tugberk Imamoglu was received following the collision, with the first rescue vessel reaching the location at around 4.10 am. The General Directorate of Maritime Affairs said the vessel was believed to have gone down after repeated calls to the ship received no response and crew members failed to answer their mobile phones.

The Tugberk Imamoglu had been sailing from Iskenderun on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast towards Eregli in the Black Sea. The 91-metre Alsu, meanwhile, was travelling from Kocaeli, east of Istanbul, towards Aliaga on the Aegean coast. MarineTraffic data identified the Alsu as an oil or chemical tanker.

The accident comes days after another maritime disaster in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkish naval units are also assisting in the search for survivors and missing passengers following the sinking of the Filo Jet ferry off Cyprus on Sunday. Eight people were killed and 20 others remained missing.

The Marmara Sea forms part of Turkey’s strategically important maritime corridor, connecting the Black Sea and Mediterranean through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. The Turkish Straits constitute one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, carrying large volumes of commercial traffic between the two seas.